Hacker McKinnon offered coastal sanctuary

Principality of Sealand holds out olive branch

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Gary McKinnon, the Brit hacker who accessed US Military and NASA sites, has been offered sanctuary from an unlikely source - Sealand. The so-called 'micronation' off the cost of Suffolk has offered him a place to rest his head. McKinnon lost his fight against extradition earlier this month.

According to the TorrentFreak blog, Prince Michael Bates of Sealand has offered McKinnon bed and board despite earlier turning down an approach from the Pirate Bay website so it could find somewhere to lay its torrents.

Sealand is the home to a webhosting company - HavenCo and little else. The Bates family have long claimed the former war fort is an independent sovereign state despite various rulings to say the fort is the property of the UK.

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Dan (Twitter, Google+) is TechRadar's Former Deputy Editor and is now in charge at our sister site Lifehacker UK. Covering all things computing, internet and mobile he's a seasoned regular at major tech shows such as CES, IFA and Mobile World Congress. Dan has also been a tech expert for many outlets including BBC Radio 4, 5Live and the World Service, The Sun and ITV News.